We are now seeing a dysfunctional government defending itself from one scandal after another. Tragically, in the process of defending itself, we see deception, stonewalling and outright lies perpetrated by government officials. Fast and Furious, Benghazi, the Internal Revenue Service fiasco and the raid of Associated Press records are only, I suspect, the tips of a large iceberg.

This is happening because there is an ideological culture encouraged directly or indirectly by political operatives from within the White House. It starts at the top, where we see a president surrounding himself with incompetent people, loyal to the ideology of this president. In turn, these people staff their offices with still more incompetent political appointees. The president may not have personally directed the Justice Department to stonewall Congress, which was trying to investigate gunrunning into Mexico, or the State Department to lie about the terrorist attack and how to defend indefensible action, etc.

No. It is the self-perpetuating culture of a president choosing fellow ideologues such a Eric H. Holder Jr., Kathleen Sebelius, Chuck Hagel, John O. Brennan, John F. Kerry and Susan E. Rice. It is a politically correct culture that makes possible the hiring of advisers (needing no background investigation nor congressional approval) at high levels of government — some with questionable ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

The nation has indeed lost its way when we have a government placing its ideology and political aspirations above the best interests of this country.